By EDWARD WONG

By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN

Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour declared that “jihad would continue” in Afghanistan in an audio recording released Saturday, though his message contained signs of hope for the Afghan government and Western diplomats.

By WAI MOE

President Thein Sein declared four regions in western and central Myanmar as disaster zones as the government continued to face criticism for its slow response to floods and landslides across the country.